In a society where a visit to rehab is commonplace amongst the rich and famous, a little therapy here and there hardly seems hardcore! However one would be sorely mistaken if they thought that was the case for the common man.

A study into the ‘actual availability’ of health insurance amongst a large cross section of ‘average’ individuals showed that “roughly 90%” of applicants were deemed to be in less-than-perfect health with ailments such as; asthma, hay-fever and acne being listed amongst the ‘illnesses’ that could potentially prevent you from purchasing a policy at the standard rates, “seriously?!” I hear you exclaim?! Unfortunately the answer is yes, spots can in fact affect your insurability and in some cases stop you from accessing health cover altogether.

Of the 90% of individuals deemed to have a posterior falling short of the coveted ‘premium-rate’ marker, a massive 37% of the individuals were found by the researcher and co-author of the study Karen Pollitz to have been rejected outright!

What does that say for those thinking about taking out health insurance in the future? Do you tell all and risk being rejected or do you withhold information and run the risk of rendering your whole policy worthless because your ‘forgot’ to disclose you attended bereavement counselling at the loss of a loved one. Even if you attended only 2 half hour sessions, that hour could haunt you and continually increase your risk factor thus reducing the likelihood of obtaining cover at the advertised rate if obtaining it at all!

Pollitz recently commented that "it's very, very hard to get coverage now" especially in the ever denser “individual health-care market”. Years after the results of her study highlighted the difficulty one faces when attempting to acquire suitable and affordable health insurance, she has commented that underwriting standards have regularly been tightened making it even more difficult for the ‘average Joe’ to get the supposedly ‘average’ level of cover. Even that phase of interrupted sleep that was fixed by 2 hours worth of counseling can make a person ineligible for health insurance she states.

Unfortunately too many of us believe health insurance is solely for our benefit and peace of mind, keeping in mind that health insurance policies are always positively weighted in the favour of the insurer. So each element of your person that contributes to your individual risk factor causes the companies to shy further and further away from you.

Value your current state; if you are a vision of health and have no pre-existing conditions, not even a bout of dandruff, then your health insurability is in its prime and NOW is time to take out a policy. Doing so as soon as possible will contribute heavily to your ability to take out health cover placing physique and ‘fillings’ amongst the top ten percent. With policies available from the pre-natal stages of life there really is no excuse not to have suitable health-cover!